▪ I. faint, n.
(feɪnt)
[f. faint a. and v.]
† 1. Faintness. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 13477 (Gött.) If þai turn ham þair wai, For þe faint sone faile sal þai. c 1320 Sir Beues 4195 Beues for ffeynt bere hym lowe. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 8814 For pure feint right now she sank. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon cxx. 430 Huon..was sore wery for faynt, for the blude that he had loste. a 1541 Wyatt Poet. Wks. (1861) 149 My hope..stumbleth straight, for feeble faint. 1600 Holland Livy iv. xli. 165 Wearied with travaile, and faint of his woundes. |
2. A swoon.
| 1808 Scott Marm. iv. xvi, The Saint, Who propped the Virgin in her faint. 1865 L. Oliphant Piccadilly (1870) 280 In a dead faint. 1885 R. L. & F. Stevenson Dynamiter 45 The night..found me still where he had laid me during my faint. |
3. Comb. as faint-fit = fainting-fit.
| 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Pindariana Wks. 1812 IV. 190 Without a scream, a faint-fit or a kick. 1892 [see dwalm n.]. |
▪ II. faint, a.
(feɪnt)
Forms: 4 (and 9 in sense 1 b) feint, 4–6 fainte, faynt(e, feynt(e, 6 Sc. fant(e, 4– faint.
[a. OF. faint, feint feigned, sluggish, cowardly, pa. pple. of faindre, feindre (mod.F. feindre) to feign, in early use also refl. to avoid one's duty by false pretences, to shirk, skulk.]
† 1. Feigned, pretended, simulated. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 19535 (Cott.) Þar-for tok he [Symon Magus] baptim faint. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xl. 6 Vayn thynge & faynt spak his hert. c 1400 Destr. Troy 12591 Þo lyghers..forget a faint tale vnder fals colour. c 1440 York Myst. xxix. 229 A faynte frend myght he þer fynde. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 144 He that loueth the with feynt loue. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 93 And finished the sayde peace with an assured othe..but it semed a faynt peace, for [etc.]. |
b. Law. faint action, faint pleading, etc.: = ‘feigned action’, etc.: see feigned.
| 1542–3 Act 34–5 Hen. VIII, c. 24 The saide Manour..to be recovered by fainte pleader, reddicion or other fraude or covyne. 1552 Huloet, Faynte accion, actio exermata. 1607 J. Cowell Interpr., Faynt pleader. 1641 Termes de la Ley 154 Faint pleading is a covenous, false, and collusory manner of pleading to the deceit of a third party. 1672 in J. Cowell Interpr., Faynt alias Feynt Action. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 517 A feint title. |
II. Sluggish, timid, feeble.
† 2. Avoiding exertion, shirking, lazy, sluggish.
| c 1325 Coer de L. 2519 ‘Rowes on faste! who that is feynt, In evel water may he be dreynt!’ 1393 Gower Conf. II. 5 He..had his thoughtes feint Towardes loves and full of slouthe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 153 Feynt, segnis. 1513 Douglas æneis i. vii. 33 The beis..fra thair hife..Expellis..the faynt drone be. 1680 Temple Orig. & Nat. Gov. Misc. 53 The spirits..are rendered faint and sluggish. |
3. Wanting in courage, spiritless, cowardly. Obs. or arch. exc. in faint heart (now associated with sense 4 b).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 18081 (Cott.) A faint fighter me thinc er þou. c 1300 K. Alis. 7597 Haveth now non heorte feynte! c 1320 Sir Beues 1575 Ase he was mad & feint To Iesu Crist he made is pleint. 1414 Brampton Penit. Ps. cxvi (Percy Soc.) 44 Myn herte is fals[e], feynt, and drye. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon viii. 184 Thoughe ye shold abyde behynde as weke men and feynte. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lii. 177 Thou arte of a faynte corage. a 1593 H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 219 The faint spies that went to the land of Canaan. 1627 May Lucan iii. (1635) 103 To send thee civill wars Having so faint a chiefe. 1702 Rowe Tamerl. i. i, His Party..soon grew faint. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 689 Faint heart never yet raised a trophy. |
| absol. 1814 Byron Lara ii. x, The fierce that vanquish, and the faint that yield. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. iv. 120 He made the faint of spirit take their place. |
| b. Proverb. 1569 W. Elderton Ballad, Brittains Ida v. i, Faint heart ne'er won fair lady. 1624 Massinger Parl. Love ii. iii, All hell's plagues light on the proverb That says ‘Faint heart’—! But it is stale. |
4. Wanting in strength or vigour. † a. Of persons or animals, their faculties or condition; also (rarely) of material agents: Weak, feeble; sickly, out of condition. Obs.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 785 Febul wax he & faynt. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 88 With many ffair ffowle, þouȝ þey ffeynte were. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 288 In bigger bowes fele, and fainter fewe Brannches doo traile. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. viii. 74 Thi vile unveildy age, Ourset with hasart hair and faynt dotage. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxlii[i]. 7 My sprete waxeth faynte. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 143 Barley strawe..is fownde..not altogeather soe faint as haver strawe. 1653 Walton Angler 130 If I catch a Trout in one Meadow, he shall be white and faint. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 204 If the Sire be faint, or out of Case. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. iii. 36 Where the scantiest or faintest Land-winds are found. 1764 Harmer Observ. iv. iv. 142 A very slow faint fire. |
b. Of actions, wishes, purposes: Half-hearted, languid, feeble.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. vi. 24 Turning feare to faint deuotion. 1630 in Picton L'pool Munic Rec. (1883) I. 158 Many disorders growen..through..faint execucon of those lawes. 1640 Habington Edw. IV 183 The King..dismist the Embassadors with some faint comfort. 1728 Veneer Sincere Penitent Pref. 4 A faint..progress in..religion. 1735 Pope Prol. Sat. 201 Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 581 A faint show of opposition from one or two peers. 1863 F. A. Kemble Resid. Georgia 37 And found there had been some faint attempt at sweeping. |
5. Producing a feeble impression on the senses or the mind; dim, indistinct, hardly perceptible: a. of light, sound, odour.
| 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. 270 The sound grew fainter and fainter. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 84 By..Turpentine, &c. all those reflections are made more faint. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v. Vision, Faint Vision is when a few Rays make up one Pencil, and tho' this may be distinct, yet it is obscure and dark. 1784 Cowper Task v. 59 Diligent to catch the first faint gleam Of smiling day. 1818 Shelley Rosalind 1015 The summer wind faint odours brought From mountain flowers. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) I. 96 Echo shrinks, as if afraid Of the faint murmur she has made. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. i. (1879) 10 A star of the sixth magnitude is..the faintest visible to the naked eye. |
b. of a colour.
| 1552 Huloet, Faynte and vnperfite coloure, dilutus color. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 74 All manner of Blues, from the faintest to the deepest. 1716 Lond. Gaz. No. 5468/4 Stolen..a Faint Bay Horse. 1730 Thomson Summer 1317 (1746) From her naked limbs of glowing white, In folds loose⁓floating fell the fainter lawn. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 724 The faintest part of the picture. 1872 Bryant Little People of Snow 111 She saw a little creature..With..faint blue eyes. |
c. of markings, etc. Applied spec. to the lines of a pale blue or neutral tint ruled on paper as a guide for handwriting. Hence quasi-adv. in ruled faint. d. of objects of mental perception, e.g. resemblance, probability, etc. Also of conceptions or representations: ‘Pale’ or feeble compared with the reality. Used in superl., with ellipsis of idea, notion.
| 1727 Swift Gulliver ii. viii. 166 Some faint hopes of relief. 1751 Jortin Serm. (1771) II. xvii. 333 The faint remembrance of the word of God. 1772 Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) II. 113 We form a faint idea of [it]. 1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. x. 338 Such is a faint picture of the state of things. 1884 Manch. Exam. 11 June 5/3 There is not the faintest chance that [etc.]. 1961 Partridge Slang Dict. Suppl. 1083/1. 1962 I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose ii. 27 ‘Where's Penny?’ said Ann. ‘Haven't the faintest,’ said Miranda. |
| absol. 1840 Browning Sordello v. 417 Some first fact I' the faint of time. |
6. Feeble through inanition, fear, or exhaustion; inclined to ‘faint’ or swoon. Const. † of, with.
| c 1320 R. Brunne Medit. 509 Þey broȝt hym to pylate, he stode ful feynt. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 332 He ys boþe paal & feynt. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy. i. ix, Which of laboure were ful mate and feynt. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 249 Guycharde..was feynte and felle doun to the erthe. 1704 F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1711) 30 When a Man..rises first from his sick Bed..he quickly grows faint. 1837 Major Richardson Brit. Legion ii. (ed. 2) 291 He was exceedingly..faint with the bruises he had received. 1867 Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 272, I was taken so faint afterwards. |
| transf. 1548 Hall Chron. 230 b, Knowyng his treasorie..to bee so voyde and faint. |
III. 7. a. Producing faintness; sickly; † having a sickly smell. Of the atmosphere: Oppressive.
| 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxxvii. [clxxiii.] 530 The wether was so faynt. 1622 Fletcher Beggar's Bush iii. i, The white Cony skin Though it be faint tis faire to the eye. 1673 Temple Observ. United Prov. Wks. 1731 I. 46 Warm faint Air turns in a Night to a sharp Frost. 1712 W. Rogers Voy. 182 The Weather was very wet, hot and faint. 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 16 Aug., I wish La Villa Ricca de Vera Cruz had not quite so faint a smell. 1870 Hawthorne Eng. Note-bks. (1879) II. 345 The atmosphere was a little faint and sickish. |
b. Of food: not fresh; tainted. local.
| 1848 Dickens Dombey lvii. 573 A man..chewing a faint apple. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 25 Oct. 2/3 This meat hadn't been trimmed. I admit it was ‘faint’. |
IV. Comb.
8. a. with adjs. of colour, as faint-blue, faint-green, etc. b. parasynthetic, as faint-breathed, faint-hued, faint-lipped, faint-voiced, etc.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. ii. Babylon 301 The faint-breath'd children Cry often Bek. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. 9 Persons..but pale in goodness, and faint hued in integrity. 1820 Keats Hyperion iii. 19 Faint-lipped shells. 1832 Tennyson Mariana in South 5 A faint-blue ridge upon the right. 1844 Ld. Houghton Palm Leaves 138 Purple and faint-green relics of the day. 1871 E. F. Burr Ad Fidem xiv. 284 Difficulties become faint-voiced. |
9. quasi-adv. with ppl. adjs., as faint-gleaming, faint-glimmering, faint-heard, faint-lit, faint-warbled, etc.
| 1727–46 Thomson Summer 48 The meek-ey'd morn appears..faint-gleaming in the dappled east. 1728–46 ― Spring 585 The long-forgotten Strain, At first faint-warbled. 1729 Savage Wanderer iii. 12 The Stars..faintglimm'ring with remains of day. 1866 Howells Venet. Life xvii. 260 Faint-heard refrains. 1867 R. Lytton Chron. & Char., The faint-lit cold-wall'd corridors. |
▪ III. faint, v.
(feɪnt)
Forms: 4–5 feinte, 4–6 faynt(e, (6 fayncte), feynt(e, 5– faint.
[f. faint a.; cf. the rare OF. feintir = sense 1.]
1. intr. To lose heart or courage, be afraid, become depressed, give way, flag. Now only arch. after Biblical uses.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 3638 For here fon gun feynte & felde were manye. a 1400 Adam Davy's Dreams 118 A voice me bede I ne shulde nouȝth feinte. 1526 Tindale 2 Cor. iv. 1 As mercy is come on us we fayncte not. 1548 Hall Chron. 59 b, The straunger so faced the Englishman, that he faynted in hys sute. 1653 Holcroft Procopius ii. 41 The soldiers blamed each other for fainting. 1701 Steele Chr. Hero iii. 62 His great heart, instead of fainting and subsiding, rose and biggen'd. 1722 Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. iii. 187 He was despised by many; yet he fainted not. 1827 Keble Chr. Y. 24th Sund. after Trin., Why should we faint and fear to live alone. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 478 Answer and faint not. |
2. To become faint, grow weak or feeble, decline. Const. in, of. Obs. exc. poet.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 13918 All feblit þe freike, fainted of strenght. c 1450 Crt. of Love 460 All her ymage paynte In the remembraunce till thow begynne to faynte. 1530 Rastell Bk. Purgat. ii. xviii, The understandynge begynnyth to faynt. 1568 Jacob & Esau i. i. 31 in Hazl. Dodsley (1874) II. 190 Sometimes Esau's self will faint for drink and meat. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 45 If they perceiue, that you faint in courage. 1697 Dryden Virg. æneid ix. 473 The Fires were fainting there. 1820 Shelley Œdipus ii. i. 56 Loading the morning winds until they faint With living fragrance. 1866 B. Taylor Poems, Odalisque, The day, through shadowy arches fainting. |
† b. To fall short. Obs. rare.
| 1623 Bingham Lepsius' Comparison 3 It fainteth or straieth from the marke, if you aime further off. |
3. To fall into a swoon. Also with away.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 3550 He..fainted for febull, and felle to þe ground In a swyme. c 1440 York Myst. xlv. 95 Caste some watir vppon me, I faynte! 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. iii. 149 And now he fainted, And cride in fainting vpon Rosalinde. 1668 G. Etherege She Would if She Could iv. i, Oh, I shall faint! 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 107 Where Christ fainted thrice, under the weight of his Cross. 1742 Wesley Jrnl. 18 Jan., As soon as she rose from prayer, she fainted away. 1847 Grote Greece ii. lii. (1862) IV. 421 He fainted away and fell back. 1880 Ouida Moths I. 16 She could have fainted. |
b. To droop, sink into. lit. and fig. rare.
| 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock iv. 34 There Affectation..Faints into airs, and languishes with pride. 1821 Keats Lamia 139 A flower That faints into itself at evening hour. |
4. To lose colour or brightness; to fade, die away. Const. into. Now rare.
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xvii, Coloures that may neuer faynte. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 66 The Wines doe..beginne to faile or faint. 1675 A. Browne Ars Pictoria 90 The next [grounds]..as they loose in their distance must..faint..in their colours. 1708 H. Philips Cyder ii. 67 Unskill'd to tell Or where one colour rises or one faints. 1711 Pope Let. H. Cromwell 12 Nov., Those..figures in the gilded clouds which while we gaze long upon..the whole faints before the eye, and decays into confusion. 1873 Miss Thackeray Old Kensington xv. 124 The draperies hang fainting and turning grey and brown. 1890 W. C. Russell Ocean Tragedy III. xxxii. 193 The sky had fainted into a sickly hectic. |
b. nonce-use. To grow dull or insensible to.
| 1669 Penn No Cross Wks. 1782 II. 93 We fainted to that pleasure and delight we once loved. |
5. trans. To make faint or weak, depress, enfeeble, weaken. Rare in mod. use. Also impers. it faints me.
| c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 828 O luxurie..thou feyntest mannes mynde. c 1400 Destr. Troy 11162 Þurgh failyng of fode..fainttes þe pepull. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 1090 Ffele I have seyn thair dammes feynt or quelle. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xix. xiii, Doth he not knowe how your hert is faynted? 1581 Mulcaster Positions iv. (1887) 22 Neither faint it [the body] with heat, nor freese it with cold. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. iii. 103 It faints me To thinke what followes. 1614 T. Adams in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xxxv. 3 Deferred hope faints the heart. a 1657 Loveday Lett. (1662) 195 It..faints my industry. 1755 Guthrie Christians Gt. Interest (1667) 113 This seriousness breaketh the man's heart, and fainteth the stoutness of it. 1858 Mrs. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw III. 175 Too much joy almost fainted the heart of the Mistress. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 216 Son, whom needs it faints me to launch full-tided on hazards. |
† b. To make less, diminish. Obs. rare.
| 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie iii. viii. 212 With incensing touch To faint his force. |